The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 192

-end. He had been engaged, as it were, in a solemn experiment with the liberated Israelites, and the experiment was now complete. No further knowledge could be ,gained, and no .c~ange in th~ direction of trust and obedience could be hoped for, from longer waiting. To wa1t, therefore, was only to waste time and 11imulate long- ~ufl'e~ng. It must be pla~n to every one who. will consicer carefully, that the :Israelites had sho'l'l'll by their conduct the great distance that the calamity of human nature's fall has placed between men and God, God knows the distance • it is we ~ho den:r it or trifle w!th it. This ex:periment with one gentration was n~t for the 1nform11.?on of God lm~self, but to instruct and impress all generations. Israel, unconsciously, was helping to lay a foundation in history for the at doctrine of regeneration. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see t " (John iii. 3). He:e is a generation, not born again, but taken • urse of nature. Nothmg is done to alter them, but a complete change is made in their circumstances. Liberated from the thraldom of oppressors, they are brought under authority of the law of God, holy and just and good. That law follows them into every hour of life. .And the result of all proves that a man cannot by such strength and disposition as nature gives him inherit the kingdom of God. This generation was not fit even for the earthly Canaan. That land was no place for carnal minds • heir own inclinations. The people were not fit, and the unfitness is now ear. AJJ they lift up the stones against Caleb and Joshua the experiment is co . Hence we see the language of God here is in perfect consistency with all the Scripture tkat e:mphaNe.s the f (J;(!t of his long-suffering. It still remains a duty of man, as it is an undoubted and gracious disposition of God, to forgive unto seventy times seven. Recollect, further, that God was dealing with, these Israelites as, a wlwle. What his relation was to each as a man, and not simply as an Israelite, is hardly to be considered here. The great lesson of Jehovah's questionings in this verse may be stated in the words of Jesus: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Ver. 12.-God makes -three propogitwm,. I . .As w tlie fate of the unbelieving natum. "I will smite them with the pestilence." If Israel is to perish, it shall not be at the hands of some other nation, which may thus glorify and exalt itself. The occasion is one on which, if a blow is to be struck, it must be a manifestly super- natural one, even as in the Deluge or the destruction of Sodom. The destruction, too, shall be sudden. The people shall not be left to wander and droop and die in the wilderness. The disease which comes from sin and works out death shall have its energy concentrated in one swift tremendous blow. 2. .As w the aspect in whid,, u this 'Disita,t,i,on w be regMded. "I will disinherit them." God looked on hrael as the legitimate and responsible heir to Canaan. It was considered as Abraham's land, by a. solemn covenant, even when he was a stranger in it (Gen. xii. 7; xiii. 14-17; xv. '7, 18-21 ; xvii 8). The aspect of Canau.n u an inheritance was still further con- firmed in Isaac as the child of promise, and Jacob as acquirer of the bi But -in spite of all this, Israel obstinately refused to make ready for the . The heirs to high rank and great possessions in this world are watched with great solicitude. Hereafter they will not only have great means for indulgence, but great opportunities for good and evil A.nd sometimes a parent, with deep pain of heart, will feel compelled to disinherit an unworthy son. This word "disinherit," rightly considered., puts a tone of inexpressible sadness into this verse. Recollect that tone .as well as words, manner as well as matter, has to be considered in listening to any judicial sentence of God. A. sceptic talking with Dr. Channing reproached Jesus -Christ for what he called his angry denunciations in Mntt. xi. 20-24. In answer, Channing opened the New Testament, and read the passages referred to aloud. As soon as he had finished, his hearer said, " Oh, if that was the tone in which he spoke, it alters the case." 3. .Aa to the fulure of Moau. "I will make of thee a ~eater JJation, and mightier thun they." Here ~a the su~gestion of_ another. expe~n~en.t. Abraham was an eminent believer. Agamet all lns shortcommgs and mfirm!ties m -other respects, and they are very plain, his faith stands out in relie~, conspicuous, almost colossal, one may say, in its manifestations. Nevertheless, his deecend~nts turned out utter unbelievers. Take !I.way from them for a aingle moment the light ~f things seen and temporal, and they become frantic and rebellious as a child left .:JBB, XIII., XIV.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 173